Romans 8:7

"For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot."

I was reading this verse the other night, and what it's saying finally hit me. I'll paraphrase it:

"The mind that is focused on worldly things does not and CANNOT obey God, therefore it is opposed to Him."

The whole passage surrounding this verse relates the black-and-white difference between living "in the flesh" and living "in the Spirit." Paul doesn't really give much middle ground in this whole part of the chapter. You're either living for worldly things and yourself, or you're living for God. Jesus Himself made it clear that we can't serve two masters. In Romans 8:6, Paul reveals the end results of either direction one may take:

"To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace."

Some food for thought as we enter the most consumeristic season of the year.

In other news, I'm really glad it's finally Christmas Break. I miss having time to talk about Scripture like this...a sad thing to say since I go to a "Christian" university.

I'm also glad that I can catch up on my reading. Not only do I want to finish memorizing Romans chapter 8 over break, but I also have a stack of classic literary stories I want to get into. I'm pretty excited for all this!

Peace.

College & Life

So, I hear college-age people talk all the time about relationships, life goals, dreams jobs, etc. I have, along with these people, often felt like if I don't find my future spouse, if I don't visit another country, if I don't do whatever RIGHT NOW, then I will never get a chance once I'm out of college. We often think that if we don't immediately find out what we're supposed to be doing with our lives and start living it, something is wrong. Nowadays, I've been wondering why we think like this. None of these ideas are true. I think the problem is that we lack patience. We think the here and now is the only time we've got. In a sense, this is true; you never know when your end will come. However, these ideas reveal the mindset we have that there is no life after college. I think this discontentment and lack of patience comes right from consumerism. "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die." We have subjected ourselves to this system of buying and constantly needing more in such a way that we haven't even realized the longer-ranging effects it's had on the way we think, even if we don't constantly buy or want new physical items. It's gone beyond that. We're no longer content to wait on key life moments; we want everything for our lives right now. That's irresponsible and foolish. We think we're ready for it all right now, when there's a reason we don't have it yet: we're still being prepared. If you can't be responsible and content with what you have right now, then why do you think you will be responsible and content once you have all these "things?" If you're reading this, I'm going to guess you have already gone beyond the basic human "wants" in life. You probably have a roof over your head almost everywhere you go, access to more than one set of clothes and the means with which to clean them, food which is easily accessible and in such abundance that you can have more than one meal every day, plenty of clean water, and friends or family to share these things with. That's more than what a lot of people in the world have. Yet you probably want more, right? That's consumerism: wanting more than what is necessary. In short, consumerism really is just greed, which is thinking you deserve more than what you have. Greed, then, boils down to pride. Consumerism is pride, the most basic and all-encompassing of human sins, which everyone has in some form or another, including myself.

Brothers and sisters, let's live our lives in humility and contentment, not seeking our own benefit above others', but putting others' needs above our own. Let's live with patience in our time of preparation, not seeking to have its fulfillment before the proper moment.

Peace.

Follow the Star 2010

So, I'm at Center Lake Bible Camp right now for the whole weekend. I'm helping with a free living nativity they run every December known as Follow the Star. I'm playing the prophet Isaiah all weekend. I stand by a fire and read from the book of Isaiah, chapter 9, verses 6-7 when prompted. It's pretty cold here at night, and it's hard not to get a faceful of smoke next to the fire, so I ran circles around the A-Frame to keep warm. Also, at the end of the event tonight, I failed at finding the right knob to turn my lantern off, and I got some really nice burn imprints from a metal piece on the top of the lantern. Pretty nice patterns.

I'm highly amused by what my boss Don has been wearing since I've been here. Along with normal warm-looking clothes, he has some big ol' boots, a pointy cap that trails halfway down his back, and rabbit-fur mittens that go halfway up his arms and look like bear paws. He kind of looks like a big angry elf.

I have a good bit of work to do while I'm here beside volunteering in the evenings. I have to research my camp's history and write an 8-10 page paper by the middle of this coming week, so I have to focus on that in the day. A couple of my friends here are going to see the new Narnia movie tomorrow, but I don't think I'll be able to go because of my homework. Oh well. Camp is really peaceful when no one is around, and it's really beautiful in the winter.

On a side note, I'm really happy that school is almost over for the semester. It's gone by pretty fast, but it's been pretty frustrating at the same time. Christmas break should be good, even though I'll be working ahead on homework for my January class. Being at home will make it much better.

Peace.

Footprints

So, I was walking back from class this morning in the snow. I decided I wanted to walk where there weren't other tracks in the snow; I wanted to make a distinct path that was my own, a path which was different from all the rest, and that would maybe even become used by others. Then I thought about how when spring comes, my tracks are going to disappear, never truly remembered by anyone else. The snowy path I thought was my own will melt away to reveal the glory of the green grass thriving again in the sun.

Food for thought.

Peace.

A Dream

So, I have a certain professor for two of my classes this semester. They're a newly hired ministry professor at Spring Arbor. At the beginning of the semester, I thought this professor was pretty cool and a good professor. After spending most of the semester learning under this person, though, I've been seeing more of their "faults" and teaching methods which I don't particularly like. It's been really getting to me the past couple weeks, in fact, and I started to lose respect for this person at one point because of my dislike of certain classroom activities and the fact that they grade work slightly harsher than many other professors here.

Last night, I had a dream that this professor personally asked me something to the effect of, "How am I doing as a professor?" In my dream, I scrambled to come up with answers which would encourage this person, because I realized they really were a good professor, and were trying hard. WOW. That was a mindset change for me. I realized this morning in class (ironically, the only class I have today, AND with this same professor) how poorly I have been regarding this person, not necessarily in class, but in my words outside of class and in my thoughts.

I can't really continue acting and thinking this way after that dream. Thank you God for showing me where I was going wrong in my relationship with this person.

Peace.

Boundaries

So, I was thinking a few minutes ago about boundaries in dating relationships. If you read my last post, you already know I just started a new relationship with a friend of mine. Like anyone else normally would in a relationship, I've been thinking about boundaries and intimacy. We haven't really talked about boundaries, other than taking things slow and wanting to glorify God in everything. Strangely enough, though, I'm ok with not having talked about it. My past relationships, we set boundaries. Those boundaries became lines which we got as close as we could to, and we would inevitably cross them. Talking about boundaries has, in my own past, made things harder. As I've posted before, I've put a lot of thought already into how I want things to go this time around, and that includes boundaries. I see this person as a beautiful child of God in a way I couldn't in my previous relationships. We both know our feelings for the other, and we both want to relate to each other in a respectable, Godly way. Things are going well, and I have no desire to push the boundaries from where they currently stand.

Peace.

Lately...

So, I guess I haven't blogged in a while, have I, internetz? Well, most things have been going pretty average lately. College is lame, as usual.

There are a few new developments with me, though. I have been working on memorizing Scripture, first off. How sad is that! It's a NEW thing with me...we should ALWAYS be memorizing Scripture and spending time in God's Word if we claim to know ANYTHING about what He's said in it! I just memorized part of the first chapter of the Gospel of John, and now I'm working on Romans chapter eight. It has been pretty tough, especially since I left my Bible at my camp this weekend (which is three hours away...). I would highly recommend memorizing large portions of Scripture as a life habit...it will really help change your heart, your perspective, and your actions. Think of a time when someone you really cared about sent you a letter, message, note, etc. Did you read it over and over again, going back to it later to really let it sink in? I have. How much more we should be doing the same with God's Word!

Speaking of things like that...another new development for me is that I've just recently entered into a new relationship with a friend of mine. I've posted about relationships on here before; my own failings in them, my feelings at the time, and what I want to do differently in the future. Well, in all my contemplations and prayers about my next romantic relationship, I did not actually think I would find myself in one as ideal as I was hoping for...but that's pretty much where I'm at right now. We both are taking it very seriously, and don't want to rush anything, which has been hard, but really great. Something which I would like to change, however, is how we spend our time together. So far, we've gone out to dinner a few times, bowling, watching movies, and just chillin on Mt. Beebe...but I would like for us to spend some time in the Word together, focusing on God. I'm planning on bringing this up the next time we're together.

If anyone still keeps track of my blog, I would really appreciate your prayers in this matter. I know from personal experience how badly a relationship can go when the focus isn't on God; I don't want to have that happen again. Thank you.

Peace.